CINCINNATI — Mical Landrum was riding his motorcycle in the West End Monday evening when a driver hit him and took off. Now he's fighting for his life in the hospital.
Cincinnati Police say they are looking for a dark-colored, 2008-2012 Toyota Camry in connection to the case. Officers believe there will be damage on the front right side of the vehicle.
Traffic or surveillance cameras might be able to help police track down the driver responsible, but Landrum's mother, Dajuanda Landrum-Tate, says the camera at the intersection where it happened was not working at the time.
"There's a camera right diagonal from me, and I was told that it didn't work," she told WCPO.
Dajuanda Landrum-Tate left her son's hospital bedside to share a plea to the hit-and-run driver who crashed into him.
"My message to you is to turn yourself in. Accidents happen," Landrum-Tate said. "It's about how you recover off the accident and my son, right now, he's fighting for his life. ... Yesterday he had major surgery to relieve a lot of pressure from the brain. His injuries are life-threatening. He has a lot of swelling today, but his spirits are kind of up. I know he hears all our prayers and he knows that we are pulling for him to get back to us."
Landrum-Tate says her son, a 35-year-old father of two children, is a fighter. Now she is fighting for him.
"I told him, 'I'm going to get justice for who hit you on the motorcycle,'" she said.
An eyewitness said a blue-green mid-size car hit Landrum at the intersection of Winchell and Ezzard Charles and did not stop.
Witnesses Avery Allmond and her mom, Nicole, did stop. They say the car nearly hit them too.
"We kept thinking about, like, who wouldn't stop?" Nicole said. "You know you hit somebody. You know you did. There is no mistaking, you know you hit somebody. The sound of it was so loud. Oh my gosh."
WCPO contacted every member of Cincinnati City Council’s Law and Public Safety Committee to learn more about the faulty camera at the scene of the crash.
Councilmember David Mann, who is also a mayoral hopeful, said he would file a motion to ask for a report from city administrators.
“We need to find what the issue is,” he said. “Is this a pattern? Or is it just a coincidence that these particular cameras are out? And I want to know that and then, well, if there's a problem that requires financial support, then we'll take a look at the Budget and Finance Committee."
Councilmember Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney said she would look into the issue on Friday. So did the office of City Manager Paula Boggs-Meuthing.
